Many people think that the bulk of archaeological work is complete once field work is finished, but that could not be farther from the truth. So, what does lab work actually include?
First step: post-field processing. The first thing I tell new technicians in the lab (and sometimes old ones because everyone needs a reminder), the number one lab rule: PAY ATTENTION! And yes, that should be said in all-caps, underlined, bolded, and with an exclamation mark. Every part of artifact processing and analysis depends on the artifacts retaining their provenience, or their identity.
When artifacts are excavated in the field, they are assigned a Field Specimen, or FS, number. This number ties the artifact to a specific provenience which provides crucial information on the horizontal and vertical location of the artifact. It tells us what STP or Test Unit the artifact is from as well as the depth at which it was found. It is EXTREMELY important that the artifacts from each provenience remain with their provenience. If a piece of plastic from near surface soils excavated from a depth of 10 cm, mistakenly gets mixed into precontact lithic debitage from a lower stratum excavated from a depth of 80 cm in the post-field processing, it would potentially indicate site disturbance, and could accidently suggest that the site lacks integrity. This is why we only work on one provenience at a time and take extreme measures to ensure that everything remains where it should. Constant Vigilance!
When artifacts arrive in the lab, the first step is to check them in on a Lab Processing Sheet. This sheet will follow the artifacts through their entire lab journey, letting me obsessively check in on their progress. At this point we double-check that the information on the artifact bag matches the information on the FS log and fix any discrepancies. Once everything is checked and correct we can begin washing!
